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Medvedev urges US action in 'very bad' Mideast situation
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Medvedev urges US action in 'very bad' Mideast situation
AFP - Wednesday, May 12
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VIDEO: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on Tuesday for a more active US role in the Middle East peace process, saying the situation in the region was "very bad". Medvedev -- the first Russian head of state to visit Syria, which was a key Cold War ally -- said Moscow was ready and determined to play its part in creating the will for a peace settlement. Duration: 00:39
DAMASCUS (AFP) - – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called in Syria on Tuesday for a more active US role in the Middle East peace process, saying the situation in the region was "very bad" and risked worsening further.
Medvedev -- the first Russian head of state to visit Syria, a key Cold War ally of the former Soviet Union -- said Moscow was ready and determined to play its part in creating the will for a peace settlement.
He promised Russian assistance to Syria in reconstructing its oil and gas infrastructure and even in building a nuclear power station.
"In essence, the Middle East peace process has deteriorated," Medvedev said alongside Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad after two days of talks in Damascus.
"The situation is very, very bad. It's time to do something," he said.
"I agree with President Assad -- the American side could take a more active position.
"A further heating up of the situation in the Middle East is fraught with an explosion and a catastrophe."
Medvedev's visit comes against the backdrop of a nearly 18-month-old suspension of Turkish-led peace efforts between Israel and Syria and a mounting war of words between the two foes over Israeli accusations that Syria has been arming Lebanon's Hezbollah with Scud missiles.
It also comes as renewed US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians run into difficulties over Israeli settlement expansion in annexed Arab east Jerusalem.
"There is not enough desire" on all sides to find a solution, said Medvedev, whose government, along with the European Union, United Nations and United States, constitute the diplomatic Quartet working for a Middle East settlement.
"This desire needs to be stimulated," he said, adding that that was a role that Russia would take upon itself.
Medvedev's spokeswoman said later that he had met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus and urged the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
"(He) urged solving the problem of releasing Israeli citizen... Gilad Shalit as soon as possible," said Natalya Timakova in Ankara, where Medvedev arrived in the afternoon, after meeting Meshaal earlier in the day.
Moscow has close ties with the Palestinian Islamist movement that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and captured Shalit a year earlier.
Medvedev said the aim of Middle East peace talks needed to be the liberation of the occupied Arab territories and the creation of an independent Palestinian state that could co-exist peacefully with Israel.
For Syria, the return of the strategic Golan Heights, which Israel seized in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in 1981, is a non-negotiable condition of any peace agreement.
Before his talks in Damascus, the Russian leader held a "lengthy" telephone call with Israeli President Shimon Peres during which he was asked to convey a message to the Syrian leader, Peres's office said on Sunday.
Peres said "Israel has no interest in a war with Syria or in heating up the northern border and that Israel is seeking a genuine peace with its Syrian neighbour."
Neither Assad nor Medvedev referred to the Israeli message but the Syrian leader said Israel was "not yet a reliable negotiating partner."
He called for Russian help in convincing Israel to take a "more constructive position" and echoed Medvedev's call for a more active US role in the peace process.
"So far we have not seen the moment when the US administration will engage in the talks in earnest and will do everything for their resumption and advancement," Assad said.
Russia has repeatedly offered to host a Middle East peace conference and has been seeking to restore influence in the region that declined after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Medvedev pledged Russian assistance with Syria's ambitions to restore its role as transit route for oil and gas between the Gulf and the Mediterranean by helping it build up its pipeline infrastructure.
He also voiced Russian readiness to build a nuclear power station in Syria as it has long been doing in Iran -- Syria's main regional ally -- over strong US objections.
The use of nuclear energy "can get a second wind" in Syria, Medvedev said, without elaborating.
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